


one hit is all you need to fly

by wnnbh12



Series: i don't think she knows... [1]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 18:13:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8633209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wnnbh12/pseuds/wnnbh12
Summary: Kelley's never been good at keeping secrets.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i'm happier with this part than i am the first
> 
> title is from Baba by Aminé because it's my favorite right now and considering Kelley refers to herself as a "frat daddy," the opening lines seem appropriate for this
> 
> series title is from Wasted Time by Vance Joy. i've already got a third part semi-planned out

“What’s got you smiling so big?”

 

Kelley’s head jerks up from her phone to see Christen walking towards her, eyes knowing and daring. Kelley had slipped off out of sight from everyone else to the edge of the roof and was admiring the skyline...and also admiring the pictures Emily was sending her of the various dresses she could wear to the wedding, asking Kelley for advice.

 

The pictures were innocent enough, just a series of mirror selfies that usually had half her face out of frame and the background displaying her disaster of a room--clothes and shoes and training gear thrown haphazardly--but something about them made Kelley’s heart race.

 

She can’t look at Emily’s legs without remembering the way her thighs quivered when Kelley ran her tongue across them. She can’t look at Emily’s lips without remembering the way they fell open in silent moans when Kelley bit down on sensitive skin. She can’t look at Emily’s hand wrapped innocuously around her phone without remembering the way it felt to have those fingers inside of her.

 

It’s only been two weeks since they started this and already Emily’s taken up a permanent residence in Kelley’s mind.

 

She was already there before, but now it’s more than just the mindless fantasies and flirty comments. Now she has real memories and daydreams of when they’ll get to be together again to occupy her time.

 

As Christen leans up against the wall surrounding the rooftop, her eyes try to peek over to see Kelley’s phone, but Kelley quickly locks it and hides the phone behind her back.

 

“Nothing, just Jerry texting me freaking out about all the wedding planning.”

 

“Huh, sure,” Christen hums, not buying it at all. “So when does Emily get in?”

 

“What?” Kelley chokes out, wondering how in the hell Christen could’ve possibly known that’s who she was texting.

 

There’s no way it was just a coincidence and the way Christen has a playful smirk on her face as she sips from her champagne glass, looking at Kelley with challenging eyes over the brim, just further proves that.

 

Of course Christen has her figured out. She’s been able to read Kelley without even having to try both on and off the field since their first week of preseason training at Stanford. Christen knows when Kelley needs a quiet pep talk before big games. Christen knows when Kelley’s had just a bit too much to drink and needs to be taken home. Christen knows when Kelley is getting way too fired up on the pitch and needs to be settled down before she gets herself carded, not that Kelley always listens.

 

Mostly though, Christen knows when Kelley is smitten with someone and it never takes her long to figure out who.

 

“Emily and Lindsey, they’re getting in tonight, right?” She tries to make it seem casual, takes another sip of her champagne and acts like she isn’t making Kelley squirm under her knowing gaze.

 

“Uh...yeah, yeah they are. They just landed a few minutes ago.”

 

“Oh, awesome. Are they coming here at all?”

 

“I’m not sure,” she says nonchalantly even though she definitely knows the exact answer. “Lindsey said their flight was delayed and they’re pretty tired, so I doubt they’ll feel like getting dressed up to come here.”

 

Of course, Lindsey wasn’t the one to tell her that, but Christen doesn’t need to know. If it seems like Kelley’s been talking to both of them, then maybe it’ll deter her friend from shooting her those knowing little glances that always make Kelley feel like her head’s transparent to Christen and Christen alone, fully on display for her viewing pleasure.

 

“Definitely sounds like something _Lindsey_ would say.” She pulls her own phone out and taps on the screen for a few moments before locking it again. “All right, well you’re boring,” she teases. “I’m going to go find Ali.” She knocks hips with Kelley and kisses her on the cheek before walking away.

 

The gesture seems odd to Kelley. It’s not like Christen hasn’t ever kissed her on the cheek before, but it’s usually just in celebration or in thanks or greeting. She’s never done it so casually before. Kelley reaches up and wipes at her cheek, wanting to remove any trace of the questionable kiss from her skin because she doesn’t want to figure out what it means right now.

 

She feels her phone vibrate in her hand and looks at the screen, expecting it to be from Emily letting her know they’re on their way to the hotel.

 

It’s not, though.

 

It’s from Christen.

 

Kelley hesitates before she unlocks her phone. She doesn’t know what Christen would text her that she wouldn’t just say to her face moments ago. Was that what she was doing on her phone before she walked away?

 

She opens up the text conversation and her chest tightens when she reads the five simple words.

 

[Christennnnn: 9:49 PM]  
_**Happy looks good on you. <3**_

 

Kelley looks over her shoulder and tries to find Christen in the crowd, but she’s already disappeared. It’s for the best, Kelley thinks. She knows she wouldn’t be able to handle the loving smile Christen would inevitably be giving her right now.

 

She fights back the tears rising to her eyes and curses herself for being so damn emotional.

 

Christen’s one of the few people who knows every single detail there is to know about Kelley’s heartache from the past year. She’s been unbelievably supportive, sending her uplifting quotes and new music she thinks Kelley might like and even a few handwritten letters just to fill Kelley in on her day and to let Kelley know she’s thinking of her in the most thoughtful way possible.

 

Kelley knows she wouldn’t have been able to get through it all without Christen. She saw her in the depths of heartbreak. Kelley let her see tears no one else ever even knew about and Christen let Kelley rant about how pissed off and angry and hurt she was without complaint.

 

Christen was there through it all and she always promised Kelley that one day she would be happy again.

 

She was right.

 

Kelley’s happier now than she’s been in a very long time and so it only makes sense that Christen is one of the first people to pick up on it.

 

She texts back a quick ‘thank you’ with a heart emoji and hits send just as a text from Emily comes through.

 

[Emmy Sonny: 9:51 PM]  
_**Meet me at the hotel before Merritt**_  
_**gets back to your room? I want a**_  
_**couple minutes alone with you ;)**_

 

When Merritt first texted her two months ago about sharing a hotel room this weekend to cut down on the cost, Kelley had been all about it. They knew each other well enough that it wouldn’t be awkward and she was looking forward to having company.

 

Now she’s cursing herself for the decision.

 

She could have a room all to herself this weekend to sneak off to with Emily and they wouldn’t have to worry about avoiding roommates. But no, Kelley had to go and share a room and basically ensure she and Emily wouldn’t get more than a few minutes alone together the entire weekend. She wishes she would’ve had the foresight to think twice about agreeing to room with Merritt, but she knows there’s no way she could’ve known she’d be in this position right now.

 

Kelley responds saying she’ll be back in fifteen minutes and then sets off to say her goodbyes quickly, claiming she’s tired and wants to make sure she’s well rested for the wedding tomorrow. Merritt tells her she’s going out for drinks with some of her UNC teammates after so she won’t be back for a couple more hours and promises Kelley she’ll be quiet when she comes back.

 

It’s the best news Kelley’s heard all day and she lets Emily know they have the room to themselves for a while just as soon as she’s in the elevator to leave. As she’s waiting for her Uber to take her back to the hotel, she has to stifle a laugh at Emily’s reply.

 

[Emmy Sonny: 10:06 PM]  
**_Remind me to send her a fruit_**  
**_basket to express my gratitude ;)_**

xxx

When Kelley wakes up the next morning, she can still smell Emily’s shampoo on her pillow even though she’s already been gone for hours. After a quick look to make sure Merritt’s still passed out in her bed and won’t catch her, Kelley tucks her nose back into the pillow and inhales deeply. If she closes her eyes, she can pretend Emily is still lying next to her, breathless and boneless, and not six rooms down the hall instead. 

 

She pulls out her phone, intending to text Emily, and smirks when she sees there’s already a text from her.

 

[Emmy Sonny: 8:57 AM]  
**_Good morning :) want to meet for_**  
**_coffee when you wake up? I miss you_**  
**_already._**

 

Kelley’s out of her bed and pulling on pants before she’s even finished reading the message. She’s literally jumping at the chance to see Emily again and she doesn’t even care how ridiculous it may be.

 

She’s absolutely, completely, out of her mind into this girl and she’s not even trying to hide it.

 

Well, she’s not hiding it from herself.

 

Everyone else she’s hiding it from, though.

[Kelley: 9:21 AM]  
**_Meet me in the lobby in 10?_**  


[Emmy Sonny: 9:22 AM]  
 **_I’ve been down here for fifteen_ **  
**_minutes already waiting for you to_ **  
**_wake up. Hurry up ;)_   
**

xxx

“So I think Christen might know about us.”

 

They're tucked into the back corner of a small coffee shop four blocks from their hotel, sitting on opposite sides of the table, but feet tangled together underneath.

 

Kelley mumbles the words into the lid of the coffee Emily insisted on paying for because she wanted to prove to Kelley ‘she knows how to treat a lady right.’

 

Emily doesn't react the way Kelley expected. She doesn't get flustered. Her eyes don't go comically wide. She doesn't choke on her coffee. 

 

Instead, she takes a slow sip and nods, taking a moment to think about Kelley’s words before she responds. 

 

It's such a careful and mature response that Kelley’s tempted to lean across the table and kiss her right on the mouth because she knows it means that this isn't just some fling for Emily. This is serious for her and she's treating it as such. 

 

“Did you tell her?”

 

“No, she just kinda guessed. She's always been good at figuring me out.”

 

“What exactly did she say?”

 

Emily scoots her chair around so she's sitting more towards Kelley’s left than she is across from her, wanting to be closer for this conversation.

 

“I was standing off to the side after the rehearsal dinner last night texting you and I guess I was smiling a lot and she came over and teased me about it. Then she asked when you were getting here and she just had this look on her face like she had it all figured out even though she didn't actually say anything. Then after she walked away, she sent me a text that said ‘happy looks good on you.’”

 

Now Emily becomes flustered. Her cheeks go red and she’s suddenly very interested in one of the pink sugar packets that she's started crinkling between her fingers.

 

“You're happy with me?” She finally brings her blue eyes up to meet Kelley’s and they're bright in a way Kelley’s never seen them before. 

 

Kelley takes a quick look around to make sure no one’s watching them--even though she’s not sure even that would deter her right now--and then she leans in and kisses Emily’s burning red cheek. 

 

“I'm the happiest with you,” she whispers against her freckles before pulling away. 

 

Emily’s grin matches hers as she slides a hand across Kelley’s knee and squeezes gently. “Cool.”

 

“Cool,” Kelley agrees, knowing there really isn't a proper word to describe how she feels, but Emily will understand exactly what she means. 

 

“So now you've told two people about us? And I still haven’t told anyone. Does this mean I’m a better secret keeper than you? I finally beat you at something?”

 

“No, no, _I_ didn't tell anyone. Erin and Christen just know me well enough to tell something’s up.”

 

“Or you just have a terrible poker face.” Emily’s hand slides a little higher on Kelley’s leg, not enough to be suggestive, but enough that it's no longer just friendly. 

 

“Whatever,” Kelley mumbles. “Besides, they don't officially know. They just suspect.”

 

“Do you want to tell them?”

 

“I don't know,” Kelley says with a shrug. She totally does know, but she doesn't want it to seem like this is something that's been making her crazy. “I think it might be kinda nice to have _someone_ to talk about this with. As much as I love having you all to myself, it would be nice to have someone else to share this happiness with. It's early, I know, but this doesn't feel casual to me.”

 

“Me neither.”

 

Emily’s grinning like a fool and it's getting really hard not to kiss her for real. Kelley has half a mind to pull her back towards the bathroom just for a couple minutes alone, no matter how gross that is. 

 

“I'm obviously not talking about telling the whole world or anything, it's only been two weeks, but I think it would be nice to talk about it with Christen and Erin. I'm sure you'd like to tell Emma and maybe Lindsey.”

 

“Yeah, I've felt a little guilty keeping this all to myself.”

 

“So we tell people? We’ll keep it close for now, but a couple people at least?”

 

“Yeah, I think that'll be nice.” Emily squeezes Kelley’s thigh and then pulls her hand away and leans back in her chair. She drops the sugar packet in her hand, no longer worried, and replaces it with her coffee cup. “Can we wait until after this weekend, though? The sneaking around is still kinda hot and besides, I don't think Allie would like it if she found out we tried to show up her big day.”

 

“She would honestly never forgive us.”

 

Kelley takes a long drink of her coffee and then checks the time on her phone, groaning when she realizes their time alone is just about at its end. 

 

“We should probably head back. Allie’s brunch is starting soon and I already promised Alex I'd be there for mimosas.”

 

Emily’s no more thrilled about it than Kelley is, but she relents with a sigh. “Fine, but just be careful not to drink too much so soon because you take the longest time to recover and I can't have you super drunk at the reception. Once you see me in my dress, I'm not going to be able to trust Drunk Kelley to keep her hands to herself.”

 

Kelley swallows hard as she thinks about seeing Emily tonight. The pictures were bad enough, she can't imagine what it'll be like in person. 

 

“Which one did you end up choosing?” She adds as clearly as she can through her dry mouth. 

 

“That's a surprise.”

xxx

It's a red dress, one she hadn't sent a picture of.

 

Kelley’s glad she hadn't because the picture never would've measured up to the real thing. It just about knocks her off her feet when Emily walks into Christen and Tobin’s room with Lindsey following behind her and Kelley has to remind herself they’re still keeping things quiet to stop herself from dragging Emily back to her room and skipping the wedding entirely.

 

If Christen didn't know she was with Emily before, then she definitely does now based on the way she stops mid-sentence to stare at her. 

 

“Damn, your girl looks good.”

 

Kelley knows what Christen is doing, pushing her luck to see if she'll be able to get Kelley to confess. Kelley’s still so weak she's barely standing, so she certainly isn't strong enough to try and deny it. 

 

“Yeah she does,” Kelley whispers, ears turning as red as Emily’s dress when the younger girl catches her staring and shoots a suggestive smirk her way, knowing the effect she's having.

 

“Told you so,” Emily mouths before turning back to talk to Ali.

 

Kelley just barely catches the proud smile Christen sends her way out of the corner of her eye, too focused on Emily to pay her friend any mind.

xxx

Kelley doesn't get to tell Emily just how much she likes the dress until at the reception.

 

They’ve been surrounded by friends and mingling with Bati’s family, so they haven’t had even a second to themselves. They’re two seats from each other at the ceremony, which is good because Kelley doesn’t trust herself to be sitting next to Emily right now. Her pale skin contrasts so beautifully with the red of her dress that there’s no way Kelley would be able to keep her hands off Emily’s thigh, her lips off her shoulder, her eyes off the deep cut that shows off so much of her freckled chest.

 

Kelley tries to avoid looking at her entirely, keeping her eyes trained on the wedding in front of her instead of the girl sitting down the row. Christen’s in front of her and keeps throwing knowing smirks over her shoulder, endlessly amused by how uncomfortable Kelley is as she tries to keep her eyes off Emily.

 

If Kelley weren’t so off balance by it all, she’d be bringing up all the times Tobin made Christen flustered when they first got together just to get the girl off her back, but she’s too far gone for that. Kelley just does her best to ignore her instead.

 

When they’re finally at the reception and Kelley already has one glass of champagne in her system and she’s three sips into her second, waiting for Allie and Bati to arrive, Kelley’s able to slide up next to Emily as she leans against the wall, waiting in line for a drink.

 

Kelley leans in and whispers in Emily’s ear, “you’re killing me in that dress. Are you doing this on purpose?”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Emily says smoothly, but the smirk on her lips tells a different story.

 

“You’re such a fucking liar.”

 

Kelley downs the rest of her drink and leans against the wall next to Emily, who’s long forgotten about the drink she was planning on getting and is taking advantage of the moment alone with Kelley.

 

“Are you trying to get drunk before Allie even shows up to her own reception?”

 

“Maybe,” Kelley hums. “Would you like that? It would be much easier for you to get in my pants that way.”

 

“Based off the way you’ve been undressing me with your eyes all night, I don’t think I need to put in that much of an effort to get in your pants,” Emily points out cockily. “Besides, you’re not even wearing pants right now, so I’m already halfway there.”

 

Kelley looks around before doing what she does next. She sees Christen look away when Kelley’s eyes pass over her at a table with the rest of their teammates, but other than that, she doesn’t immediately notice anyone else’s eyes on them. Part of her hates having to check over her shoulder every moment, but she knows it’s necessary right now.

 

She leans in close, closer than before. Not just to make sure absolutely no one hears this even though there’s no one within ten feet of them, but also because it means she can drop her voice down to that octave she knows gets to Emily and whisper right in her ear.

 

“You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you right now.”

 

Kelley can hear the breath Emily sucks in through her nose, so she kisses Emily’s ear as discreetly as she can before she pulls away, just to make it that much harder for the girl.

 

“You’re mean,” comes Emily’s shaky voice. “So, so fucking mean.”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kelley claims innocently, using Emily’s own words against her.

 

Kelley walks away then, takes Emily’s place at the back of the line to the bar and turns around pretending like she didn’t just get the girl all worked up and leave her to deal with it on her own.

 

“You want a drink? I’ll order you one.”

 

“So fucking mean,” Emily mumbles again. “I’m going back to the table, you know what I want,” Emily tells her, nodding towards the bar.

 

“Oh, I definitely know what you want,” Kelley calls after her, relishing in the way Emily stops in her tracks and shakes her head before she continues walking.

xxx

Emily’s a bad dancer.

 

Sometimes she’s able to fool people into thinking she’s a good dancer because she’s so committed to it. She gets so into it that sometimes it’s easy to believe she actually is good.

 

But she’s not.

 

Kelley’s always found it adorable and she especially finds it adorable when Emily’s steps are impaired by one too many beers. (The same beer she was drinking their first night together in Virginia and Kelley’s just waiting until she can steal her away and taste blueberries on her lips once more.)

 

Emily’s dancing with Lindsey and three of Bati’s cousins who can’t be any older than fourteen. They’re trying to teach Emily some dance they made up that’s basically just a bunch of dabbing and some step over move that really shouldn’t be that difficult, but Emily isn’t currently of sound mind, so she’s having a tough time of it. The boys are laughing gleefully, though, so Kelley suspects Emily’s exaggerating it a bit for their sake, wanting to entertain.

 

“Are you really going to make that girl dance alone?”

 

Kelley turns towards the seat next to her, not even realizing Christen had sat down. She was too busy watching the sway of Emily’s hips to pay attention to what’s going on around her.

 

“She’s not alone,” Kelley says, avoiding Christen’s tone completely.

 

“You know damn well what I mean,” Christen tells her with a roll of her eyes. “Do you really think she’d rather be dancing with a couple of twelve-year-olds instead of you?”

 

“Chris,” Kelley warns. “Can we please not do this right now?”

 

Christen doesn’t answer right away. She settles Kelley with a look that Kelley refuses to meet, so she’ll never really know what it means, but she assumes she’s got narrowed eyes and is trying to get a read on the situation.

 

Finally, Christen relents with a sigh and tilts her wine glass to her lips for a moment. “Fine,” she says after she swallows. “I’ll let it go...for now.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“But just tell me one thing first,” Christen bargains.

 

Kelley sighs, but finally turns her body completely to look at Christen. “All right, what do you want to know?”

 

“You guys _are_ actually together, right? It’s not just the shameless flirting and crushing on each other thing you guys used to have going on? Because something definitely seems different this weekend.”

 

Kelley wouldn’t be able to keep the wide grin off her face even if she wanted to at the chance to actually say to another person that, yes, she’s with Emily.

 

“Yeah,” Kelley beams. “I mean, we aren’t officially girlfriends or anything yet, we’re still working on that, but yeah. We’re together.”

 

It feels better than she could have ever imagined to say that to another person. Granted she’s only been keeping this in for two weeks, but Kelley felt like she was about to burst keeping it trapped inside.

 

It’s such good news, _wonderful_ news, and it’s such a huge relief to be able to share this feeling with another person, especially someone who cares about her as much as Christen.

 

Christen squeals.

 

She honest to god _squeals_ as she takes Kelley’s hands in hers, absolutely giddy for her friend. “Tell me everything,” she gushes, leaning in and knocking her forehead against Kelley’s gently.

 

“No, no, no,” Kelley protests. “You said you wanted to know one thing and I told you.”

 

“Oh, come on. You can’t just drop a bomb like that and then clam up.”

 

“You’re the one who pushed me to drop the bomb,” Kelley points out, knowing it will do nothing to deter Christen, though.

 

“Please, please, please, please, please, please, please,” Christen begs her, hands clasped together and all.

 

“You’re impossible,” Kelley groans.

 

Her eyes dart over to Emily, who’s watching them intently. She’s got a small smile on her face that suggests she’s been watching long enough that she knows exactly what they’re talking about, but she doesn’t seem bothered by it. She gives Kelley a reassuring nod and then goes back to dancing, knocking hips with Ali as she and Ashlyn join her and Lindsey on the dancefloor.

 

“Just give me a quick synopsis, _please_.”

 

“How about this.” Kelley stands from her seat and holds out a hand to Christen. “Right now, let's go dance with our friends and have fun tonight. Then tomorrow morning, we’ll get breakfast, just the two of us, and I’ll tell you everything. Sound good?”

 

Christen lets out an impatient sigh, wanting to know all she can right now, but she takes Kelley’s hand anyway. “Just one more thing,” she asks before standing.

 

“ _Chris_ , come on.”

 

“Nothing like that, I’m not asking anything,” Christen clarifies. “I just want to say that I’m really happy you’re happy, Kell. I’ve missed seeing you smile like this.”

 

Kelley’s getting choked up as she pulls Christen to her feet and wraps her arms around her shoulders. It means so much to her to have Christen’s support. She’s so wise and compassionate, that Kelley’s always valued her opinion above almost everyone else’s.

 

Christen doesn’t spout bullshit. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything and she never, _ever_ tells you something just because it’s what you want to hear. She tells you the truth. She tells you what you _need_ to hear and Kelley’s always been incredibly grateful to have someone like that in her corner.

 

Knowing Christen is so genuinely happy for her fills Kelley’s heart in a way she didn’t know it needed to be. Christen’s support means the world to her and she makes sure to tell her as much.

 

“Don’t thank me,” Christen tells her. “You continuing to be happy is all I want from you, okay? It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you like this.”

 

“I’m doing my best,” Kelley promises.

 

“Kell, you’re doing so much more,” Christen tells her earnestly.

 

Kelley takes two big steps away from Christen and shakes her head. “Stop it, you’re going to make me cry.”

 

“Okay, okay. Let’s go dance, all right?”

 

Christen takes Kelley’s hand and leads her towards the rest of their group.

 

Kelley knows she probably shouldn’t do it--okay, well she _definitely_ shouldn’t--but she’s buzzing from her conversation with Christen and too many glasses of champagne and so she really just doesn’t care what anyone around them thinks.

 

She slides up right beside Emily, pressing her stomach tightly against Emily’s hip as she wraps an arm around her waist. She leans up so she can brush a quick kiss against Emily’s cheek, not giving a damn if every single person in the room sees.

 

She wants to do it, she needs to do it, and so she does.

 

“You make me so fucking happy,” she whispers in Emily’s ear before she pulls away.

 

Emily’s lips are on Kelley’s cheek the second she pulls away, dangerously close to her mouth, but neither of them care much. Kelley has a feeling if Emily had it her way, they’d be making out right now, completely ignoring everyone around them.

 

“I absolutely adore you,” Emily mumbles back in her tipsy southern drawl, followed by a bubbling laugh that makes Kelley feel a kind of joy she’s only ever felt on the soccer field before.

 

It’s a bit of a sappy line and not at all something Emily would usually say, but she’s had too many beers to care and it’s exactly what Kelley needs to hear.

 

If any of their friends notice the interaction, and Kelley’s 100% positive they do because they aren’t being discreet with their smirks at all, they don’t say anything. They just continue to dance the night away.

 

Kelley holds Emily’s hand the entire time.

xxx

A long while later, once a good bit of the guests have left and the dance floor has thinned completely aside from the flower girls chasing each other around, Kelley and Emily are camped out at their table, chairs pushed close and Emily’s legs thrown across Kelley’s lap, head resting against her shoulder.

 

They’re not trying to hide anything anymore.

 

They never explicitly said they weren’t going to, but it’s a tacit agreement they seemed to come to together when Emily pulled Kelley in for one of the last slow songs of the night and let her hands rest way too low on Kelley’s waist to be considered friendly.

 

Ashlyn and Ali sit across from them at the table with Alex and Servando--who’s lying across two chairs, passed out with his head in Alex’s lap--but they’re too busy discussing Halloween plans to pay them any mind.

 

Their friends seem to have come to their own agreement, deciding they aren’t going to call Kelley and Emily out on being Kelley & Emily until either of them bring it up. Aside from a thumbs up from Ashlyn and a ‘nice work, dude’ from Tobin, they’ve all been respectful of letting them figure it out on their own before talking about it with them.

 

Kelley’s playing with Emily’s hand, tracing patterns all along the insides of her fingers. She’s about to suggest she help Emily back to the hotel so she can sleep off the alcohol in her system, but Lindsey settles into the seat next to her and beats her to it.

 

“Here,” she says, holding out a keycard to Kelley.

 

“What’s this for?” Kelley asks as she takes it. It looks exactly like hers, so she knows it’s to the same hotel, but she doesn’t understand why Lindsey is giving it to her.

 

“It’s for my room so you can take Emily back. I’m going to crash with Merritt tonight.”

 

Emily’s no longer tired when she hears that. Her head shoots up and she looks over at her friend with a look that Kelley can only describe as confusion mixed with gratitude as she asks, “why are you doing that?”

 

“Because I’m too tired to want to deal with your drunk ass and besides, who am I to keep the lovebirds away from each other?” Lindsey stands just as quickly as she sat down, grabbing her phone from the table.

 

“We’re not lovebirds,” Emily grumbles.

 

“You’re literally sitting in her lap,” Lindsey dismisses with an eye roll. “Just give me like fifteen minutes to change into pajamas and brush my teeth and then the room’s all yours.” She walks away with a wave, not giving Emily any more time to protest.

 

“Well that was nice of her,” Emily says.

 

“Remind me to send her a fruit basket to express my gratitude.”

 

“Hey!” Emily exclaims in offense. “You are not allowed to steal my jokes. That’s totally not cool, dude.”

 

“‘Dude?’ That’s so romantic of you.”

 

“It’s a hell of a lot more romantic than stealing someone’s jokes,” Emily complains, crossing her arms in a pout.

 

Kelley presses a quick kiss right to Emily’s lips, ignoring the low wolf whistle that Ashlyn shoots their way. “Let me take you back to the hotel and make it up to you.”

 

“You’ve got a lot to make up for, _dude_. Can you handle it?”

 

“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just ask me that.”

 

Kelley pushes Emily’s legs gently off her lap so she can stand. She grabs her clutch and Emily’s crossover from the pile in the middle of their table and says goodbye to their friends. She wraps an arm around Emily’s waist and steers her towards the exit.

 

“It hasn’t been fifteen minutes yet,” Emily points out, leaning into Kelley for support and cursing the heel on her shoes for making her steps so unstable.

 

“I don’t care. I’ll chase Lindsey out of the room if I have to. I can’t wait to get you out of that dress.”

xxx

Kelley does get Emily out of her dress, but that’s all she gets.

 

After she’s pulled the zipper down Emily’s back, kissing along all the newly exposed skin in the process, she goes to the bathroom to wash the makeup off her face and take off her own dress.

 

She walks back into the room a couple minutes later wearing nothing but her underwear only to find Emily fast asleep in the bed, dress still tangled around her ankles.

 

Kelley’s heart aches at the sight as she realizes just how damn much she likes this girl.

 

Emily’s a nerd and she makes terrible jokes and for as smart as she is, she can be totally oblivious sometimes, but she also drives Kelley crazy in the best way possible.

 

It’s so hard for Kelley to fathom sometimes that she’s only known this girl for a year. She’s never been so open with someone so quickly before and it has Kelley feeling like she’s known Emily all along.

 

Emily showed up at a time in Kelley’s life when she needed her the most and Kelley’s never been a big believer in fate, but she can’t help but feel like some sort of divine intervention took place in order to bring them together when they did.

 

Kelley grabs a shirt from Emily’s suitcase and pulls it over her head, the overwhelming scent of Gain laundry detergent filling her nostrils because Emily doesn’t realize she doesn’t need to use half the bottle each time she does laundry no matter how many times Kelley tells her. She gets another shirt for Emily and walks over to the bed, tugging the dress down the rest of her legs and helping her sit up even though she protests.

 

“It’s not nice to wake people when they’re sleeping,” Emily mumbles so low Kelley barely catches it.

 

Kelley struggles, but manages to get the shirt over Emily’s head as she says, “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t freeze tonight since you like to keep the AC as low as possible.”

 

“The colder it is the more you have to cuddle with me.”

 

“Oh, so this is a strategy, huh?” She helps Emily lay back in bed and pulls the covers over her, tucking them gently around her shoulders before she crawls over and gets into bed on the other side. “You do know you don’t have to trick me into cuddling you, right? All you need to do is ask. Actually, you don’t even need to do that. Chances are pretty high that I’ll just do it anyway.”

 

“You’re such a good space heater,” Emily compliments as she rests her head on Kelley’s chest and lays an arm across her stomach, fingertips digging into her ribs to pull her closer.

 

“You’re so drunk,” Kelley laughs.

 

“Drunk on you.”

 

Kelley shakes her head at the lame line and leans down to kiss Emily’s forehead. “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”

 

“Hmm, I like hearing you call me that.” Her voice is already distant and drifting further away with each syllable.

 

“Sweetheart,” Kelley repeats, adding as much emotion as she can to the single word.


End file.
